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Jackie Rawlings Riverside California — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:29:42 GMT

General Petraeus knew what was to be shipped to him and he is responible for what happen. As for the weapons being sold it wont take much thinking to know our own leaders are behind the sale. It's all about money and secrets. Now we are to believe what General Petraeus says about what's going on now. Our troops are being killed with the weapons US taxpayers paid for and the Military gave to the enemy.

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Lisa McNeil,Alpharetta,Georgia — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:37:38 GMT

It is hard to understand how this many weopons can be lost and not have yet been accounted. Then an Army Major in indicted on accepting bribes. Lt. Colonel David Styles account of a "free for all" and "taking what they wanted" with regards to the distribution of weapons seems utterly insane. One can sum up this entire process as chaotic. Hopefully the truth will come out eventually.

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Don, USA — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:02:51 GMT

It sure seems strange that these stories started popping up at the NYT just a few days before Petraus is due to report progress. It would not be so obvious if the reporting did not remind us that it could reflect badly on him. Hum....

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Bohdan Szejner — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:23:35 GMT

In the era of terrorism, every weapon should have an electronic chip in it, so that it can be traced. This would not only prevent military diversion of weapons, but it would make the life of civilian criminals more complicated.

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jorge — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:16:23 GMT

Over $8 billion is missing and has been missing for years. Ammo dumps were looted by Iraqis while soldiers could only stand there and watch. Contactors billed exorbitant costs which, by itself was unethical, and then billed the same exact job four or five times over--and STILL never actually did the work. And suddenly we're concerned that weapons are missing and wondering how this could happen???

It's been going on since this war started, folks, where have you been?? What have you been paying attention to?? Idol and Survivor??? This isn't an isolated incident, there is a culture of corruption in Iraq and it is at least as much American as it is Iraqi.

This is YOUR money!!! OUR money!! Bad enough to be spending it on a lost cause but then it goes into the pockets of thieves--many of whom are American citizens while our soldiers--remember the guys we claim to care so much about?--are dying from lack of armor and equipment.

Now we're even arming our enemies while cursing the very ground they walk on. Oh, but let's all praise George Bush--god bless him--for keeping America safe. And he wants another $50 billion next month of our money and the brave antiwar Congress will give it to him.

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Roger Republican — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:36:12 GMT

Why is the U.S. buying Russian Made Weapons, when we are in a recession? Shouldn't we be buying U.S. made weapons? It would put "Americans" Back to work!!!

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Rod Fisher Portage,In — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:50:44 GMT

And yet,Pres.Bush wants another 50 billion for Iraq! I can't help but feel that the pathetic way this money is being managed is all the proof needed for Congress to say "absolutely no more funding",without a paper trail of every dime already spent. And,EVERYONE,is called to task/punished for their Cheating,Lying,and Theft.I would rather see all of our Military completely removed from there than have them killed by weapons that we purchased/supplied for their betterment. From all I read,it appears to me that the Iraqi people are to involved in fighting amoungst themselves over tribal nonsense than they are in removing their biggest problems and getting there country back to a selfsupporting/productive status.

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Rod Fisher Portage In — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:04:06 GMT

190,000 weapons missing and the inspector general is going to go see if there is a problem.With a group of 18 no less.What is he gonna look for, empty boxes? He should start at the beginning,not the end.Again,I say STOP all funding until the illegal activities are stopped. And that includes the price gouging.

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Captain Mephisto, seattle, wash — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:41:03 GMT

Why are we sending AK-47's to Iraq? Who makes these weapons anyway? Why aren't we shipping American weapons?

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don bell, Concord, Ca — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:09:04 GMT

I don't know why people are suprised by this. Every aspect of this war should be investigated beginning with, why are we there? Wake up and kick the bums out.

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Robert Chiodo IV — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:13:09 GMT

The Attorney General and the Bush Administration have NO problem prosecuting our young men for killing in the time of war, Just look at all our poor boys sitting in the brig for doing their job, God forbid anyone stop the process of capitalism no matter what the situation, or benefit their own interest using diverted/spun taxpayers dollars and go to jail for it!

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W. Olivier — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:51:10 GMT

It seems strange that this information was held back until the time of the progress report for Iraq. Some one knew this before and is using it to undercut our commanders at a critical time for obviously political purposes.Quit pointing fingers until details are known.

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Den amery WI — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:04:02 GMT

Whyis anyone surprised about this? Corruption has become the new theme in government and plays out with anyone who has ties to our leaders. This mystery will not get resolved truthfully because they will find a fall guy who will take the hit for many of the top dogs involved. Look at Abu Garib prison scandal. The bottom line is that true americans need to wake up and smell the roses before the less desirable public servants take them all. Oh one other thing maybe we could hire the honorable Al Gonzales to investigate or maybe he has been picked so much by Dems. he needs time to feel sorry for himself. Suggestion lets get back to the rule of law once again to where it applies to all americans including the criminals in the white house!!!

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GunOwner — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:58:27 GMT

Bohdan Szejner said; “In the era of terrorism, every weapon should have an electronic chip in it, so that it can be traced.”

Weapons or Guns? Case in point, planes that hit the twin towers were weapons. As far as “Guns” go, try enforcing that concept on N. Korea, the leader of guns on the black market. For guns in the civilian world, as Archie Bunker put it; “Would you feel better if I pushed them out of a window?”

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Tom Blackshear, Phoenix, AZ\ — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:25:24 GMT

Let me see. We are worried about the Iranians arming the insurgents in Iraq. I think that is what we are doing isn't?

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Joe — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:28:18 GMT

The Weapons were traced by serial number, what good would a chip do? A chip would make it harder to trace because you would need special equipment to scan the weapons.

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Jeff, Ft Campbell KY — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:37:33 GMT

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the general Jackie... A 4 star general does not personally account for things... he has many, and I do mean many people under him that handle it and report it to him. I would say the actual responsibilty goes far down the pipe from Petraus.

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roy a. hamer, pittsfield, nh — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:11:48 GMT

I agree with Jackie and the implication it suggests. There's no telling how many weapons were diverted by Iraqui troops loyal to their sect and consequently sold to insurrgents. Anyone who believes differently is literally stuck with their heads in the sand. Someone is not minding the store and is not accepting responsibility for it.

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rich, findlay, ohio — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:13:07 GMT

It wouldn't surprise me if the Pentagon diverted some of the weapons to people who they thought were insurgents in Iran. If that possibly happened it means some of them ended up in the hands of Iranians fighting our troops.

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Dale,Greensboro North Carolina — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:19:51 GMT

I think the missing weapons are proof that war is about money. We are good American capitalist and we see the niche and we are going to fill it. I bet we have a lot more missing items and I bet a lot of good americans are turning a prophet.

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Ginger Omak, Wa. — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:20:20 GMT

Good idea Bohdan!Now if someone would take the blinders off those in charge....It may just complicate the lives of those in our military who are there only to make money as well.

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Drew, US of A — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:59:30 GMT

What boggles my mind is that anyone thinks they could be accounted for. Giving Iraqis a bunch of guns is like giving a bunch of squirrels a truckload of acorns. Hopefully the Iraqi police didnt get too many of them. They're terrorists in uniforms.

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M-somewhere south — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:27:24 GMT

I don't think most Americans are looking at the big picture the way the Administration is. We are all looking for a direction out of this war when it is more than a little obvious that the war is the destination. They haven't looked for a way out (until a lot of complaining by left-wing congress)because the chaos that has happened is exactly what they were after in invading Iraq. The Administration is not after stability in the Mid-East region-they are after a multi-national civil war between the Shia and the Sunni. Who ever wins will be the group we deal with-and the Administrations money's on the Sunni.
Shocking idea? Not at all when you realize that Karl Rove and friends follow the Machiavelian ideals-create war, let the combatants duke it out to the death, and deal with the survivors. It speeds up evolution and gets rid of the weak. The Neo-cons openly support these values.

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Peter NH — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:11:51 GMT

W.Oliver, When would be a "good" time to out the corruption,2058?

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DG; Arizona — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:18:53 GMT

Forget for a moment that the Iraq War was falsely justified (even though Syria, Iran, North Korea and at the time Libya were all more of a legitimate threat), that the war has been continually deceptively rationalized and has really only benefited a few, who incidentally are all strong Bush supporters. Instead, for the moment, just look at the ridiculous things that have been allowed to occur: like 190,000 American supplied weapons disappearing, multi-million dollar unexplained, daily diversions of Iraqi oil revenue, Iraqi politicians irresponsibly in-fighting for sectarian and personal advantage, Iraqi troops purposely firing on American troops, billions of American aid dollars unaccounted for, the failure to use, as promised, Iraqi oil revenue to pay for the war and for reconstruction and so on. Then recognize that the only way all of this could happen is with a lack of concern for these things as the focus is being placed elsewhere: on the pursuit of a private agenda for the significant benefit of Special Interests and a select few, which has really been a total success. Finally realize that all the American people are getting is apathy, subterfuge and the costs (including almost 4,000 Americans dead and approaching 400 billion tax payer dollars spent). It seems very apparent that the Bush administration thinks the American people are unimportant, ignorant and easily distracted and manipulated.

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J Grimes Omaha NE — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:34:32 GMT

What has happened to this country? The looting and mismanagement goes on. As a retired military officer I recall one principle, if it happened on your watch, you are ultimately responsible. I am shocked at the waste and absence of responsibility. After watching LG Lange on CSpan I understand the term political generals. The man should replace Tony Snow

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Earl Umfleet , Sumner, Il — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:15:40 GMT

I was in Viet Nam and saw the blackmarket over there, so I know what is happening in IraQ. There will be high ranking officers as well as all of the lower ranks involved with the rifles and any thing else that will bring a buck over there. Most of the casualties are the ones going on patrols, and the rest in the tents or barracks are bored to tears. That would help to explain the mentality. Sorry but the truth will not come out. At the end of WW11 an acquaintence came home from europe, was arrested for blackmarket there. He wiggled his way out of that and got home with $50,000 of blackmarket money.

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kevin mayhew lakeland fl — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:02:31 GMT

Well a lot of this blame should fall directly on certain American Soldiers unfortunately and whoever is in charge of buying the weapons for the Iraqis. Fact 1 Ya'll are going to love this; the Iraqi Security Force officers and Iraqi Police officers have better pistols than are Soldiers do. The Iraqi Police carry Glock19's and whats even better is the pistol's that the Iraqi Forces have: They have Walther's which cost almost a $1000 compared to our pistol which is a Beretta which costs around $450. The other fact is: There is not any accountability for the weapon's that the Iraqi's are issued......most American Soldiers do not make them do a serial number inventory. Most of the time they don't show up for work. I know all this because when I was there during the period in question I was a trainer/adviser for the Iraqi Forces. The adviser group I was in went on every mission with the Iraqi's and we made them do a monthly serial # inventory supervised by us. But one problem we had was sometimes when we would confiscate weapons/ammo, we would give the Iraqis weapons at times because a lot of them were being threatened at home for being in the forces. Problem was that sometimes when we would raid a house we would confiscate the same weapons and magazines that we would give them so we quit doing it. Have a good day ya'll.

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Mark Ulm, Stockton, Ca. — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:06:16 GMT

The Democrats are failing us just like the war thirsty Republicans. They are not confronting the Generals and the Bush Administration about the realities of corruption on all sides including our own American Corporations. We need to vote in an Independant!!!! It's time to end this failing two party system!!

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Connie, Burbank — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:02:07 GMT

The movie Lords of War gave everyone all the information they needed on weapons and wars. Everyone makes money. And the movie was based on an actual person. It even said so.

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juana issa, united atab emirates — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:10:16 GMT

I feel very sorry for the iraqi people, they had their lives totally destroyed because of this war, their children face a grim future mired in war, and the powers that be calls it a generational war, so be ready for more for a long time to come. As a muslim lady who wears the headscarf this saddens me
greatly because of all the harrasment I have to endure at airports while travelimg, and watch others be subjected to long lines removing their shoes, all for what? they are not accomplishing anything with any of that, the only thing is causing great embarrasment to muslims travelers. I am sorry if I bore you but we are starting the month of ramadan, the month when muslims fast, and all muslims go to their masjids (temples) to pray and ask that their sins be forgiven, and share teir food with the poor and their neighbors, but I wonder how are the iraqis going to be able to fast this ramadan.
jumanah, UAE.

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Diana — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:17:10 GMT

How and why would any american be so irresposible to let any weapon go unaccounted for. It's the duty of every American in Iraq to protect our American soldiers at all cost. There is so much corruption in the Iraqi Government that it makes us being in Iraq a worthless cause. At this point the Iraqi Gov. should be paying us to be there, other wise we need to pull our troops back to the borders and let them break in to civil war and clean up the mess when there done.It's very sad to think our own weapons are killing our own men and women because somebody didn't care enough to do their job.

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Orby - VA — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:58:47 GMT

Small minds and the internet - what a convenient environment for fools and...

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David Sloan, Phoenix, AZ — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:13:09 GMT

As we struggle to find funding and even cut some areas of education and healthcare, The Presidents' and Vice Presidents' war in Iraq keeps truckin along sucking up tens of billions of dollars. We could have solved cancer, paid college tutition for every person who wanted to get an education and given all Americans free healthcare for the money spent in Iraq. This is sickening!

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jupiter, Eugene, OR. — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:11:53 GMT

Our country is disgraced. How long will it take to repair the damage that this administration has inflicted upon our democracy. The lies, the corruption, the raping of our constitution, where does it end. What has to happen for us to wake up and retake our democracy!

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BRubble Rohnert Park, Ca — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 16:19:59 GMT

Every war has it's liars, profiteers, and general shennanigans. However, when the money/political trail gets ahold of war's coattails, we know what happens, Vietnam type crap. Lucky for us, we know better as a country. We would NEVER start a war we didn't have an exit strate-what? When? Huh? Iraq? What the hell for? Bin Laden?Isnt he Saudi? Hussein? Which one?SADDAM? HE's a lackey..Dead?Oh, well..ok then, but...so we're done now right? No? Civil War in Iraq? How's that happen, didnt we have a pla-We did? Didn't work? Ah hell...

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rafael kissimmee florida — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 03:08:44 GMT

president bush and all these corrupted companys have done more damage to this country then any terrorist attack could ever do to america and now looks more evil to the world now more then ever.oh and w.oliver is an idiot

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ME, PA — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 12:28:10 GMT

wow... computer chips on guns? according to the FBI only about 5% of guns used in crimes are purchased new by the criminal. the rest are purchased black market and are generally old... besides, England, with NO legal guns has a significantly higher murder rate than we do... as does Australia with it's strict gun control.
guns missing? US creating gun dealers? so what? it's not like this was new. when i was in Haiti under Clinton we bought back 4x the number of guns as were originally in the country as they were being imported for the money we were paying for them... we were paying 500 for guns that cost 59 here in the states at the same time. and crime rate went up 3 fold (or more depending on whose statistics).
and why are we sending AK 47's to Iraqis? oh wait, we don't. we send M-16;s. the Chinese send AKM 47's.

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BOB THE INDEPENTENT, HERSHEY, PA. — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:30:28 GMT

OUR GODLY INSPIRED PRES., GEORGE BUSH, ULTIMATELY HAS TO ANSWER GOR THE TOTALLY UNJUSTIFIED WAR HE STARTED WITH THE HELP OF A STUPID CONGRESS. WHEN YOU START A WAR, THE FIGHTING ASPECT IS ONLY A PART OF THE BIG PICTURE. MISSING WEAPONS IS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG!CIVILIAN DEATHS, PROPERTIES DESTROYED. LIVES RUINED , ETC. ETC, ETC. WE HAVE LIVED UNDER THE MOST DEVIOUS, THE MOST SECRETIVE, THE SHALLOWEST ADMINISTRATIONS OF MY 83 YEARS ON THIS PLANET, FOR THE PAST 8YRS. MAY WE HAVE MUCH NEEDED CHANGES SOON.